Purging
Some days I feel incredibly energized, and then a bit later I am down in the dumps, & I wonder if something is wrong. Meanwhile a stack of boxes teeter in the living room.
Each day I look around the house. The Knick-knacks are being checked, deciding if they have positive memories. If not they go into a box. If the memory is positive I decide to keep it or share it. The gadgets and gizmos we all have, I decide if I have used them recently or at least have a regular use for them. No? Into the a box.
The cookie cutters I only use once a year. Yet the green Christmas trees with the non-parels, the yellow stars dusted with sugar, make me very happy. I smile seeing the cutters, in 6 months I’ll use them again. But the cast iron corn-cob-cornbread pan? The wok? I haven’t used them in a long time, into the box of Kitchen stuff.
Thus it has been for just over a month. Other than trash, nothing is being thrown out. The kitchen box once it was full, I listed it on Freecycle, within 3 days someone picked it up off my porch. Same with pillows, blankets, even shampoos. Currently working on filling the newest knick-knack box and office product box. When they are full, back to Freecycle.
All this purging is emotional. For years, one of my bedroom walls has been home to a wall covering of a tiger, a latch kit made by my then best friend. Distance separated us so we don’t talk much anymore. The tiger still means a lot, but after sitting with it, I realized it was time to let it go.
So I wrapped it up, gave it to my nephew on his graduation. “This was a gift made for me when I graduated, now 19 years later I give it to you,” was the note I wrote. He ripped into the package, and almost cried when he saw it. He loved it on my wall, didn’t know I got it when I graduated, now it was his. He asked if I was sure, his mom, my now best friend asked as well. But it was time to let it go…
And thus with a friend who is very negative. Something is always wrong, I decided to let her out of my life. Suddenly I have a new friend, from my youth group years ago. She’s grown up, positive and great to hang around.
Sunday I decided I was ok with having to let go of my church after just starting to attend again. She left for the same reason I did, politics, bad politics. It’s not quitting, it’s not getting rid of, but sometimes things change and sometimes you must let go… so what do you need to let go of???? And what if letting go means getting something better?
~MJ
Wow, great article and lots of insights. I love giving things away at Freecylce too
Looking around my house, there’s quite a lot of stuff I need to let go…
Comment by Donna Fox — June 22, 2009 @ 10:10 pm
I’m proud of you MJ…this is such an important and huge step you’re taking. You are an inspiration for us all! Thank you!
Comment by Tony Laidig — June 23, 2009 @ 12:36 am
Wow MJ!…I am proud of you also. Letting go of things or people is not always easy to do. I had an online friend a couple of years ago that I had to let go.
Before I got into Neville and his teachings of Christ, and all the people of The Secret, I was just a person wandering through life, and did not really have any set goal or a future to look forward. After watching The Secret and reading it, I became aware that there was something here that I needed to dive into that needed all of my attention.
This friend that I had wanted me to be online with her in yahoo messenger every night, and at first it was great, but when I started searching within, she really did not understand it. Her life was a life of complaining, every night that is all I heard about was her complaining about her boy friend she was living with, or her step daughter or her family. All this negativity was doing nothing but dragging me down to her level. I tried to explain this to her, but she never understood, so little by little, I came on less and less, and finally I just let her go. I purged her from life forever. In order for me to move on, I had to let her go.
My last online friend, I finally let her go two weeks ago. Naturally she does not understand either. I try to accept people as they are, even if I do not agree with their life style. She is married and there is this game site she goes to and she flirts with all the guys on there and sometimes she leads them on, and personally that is not for me. Some day it will all come back and bite her in the butt…so to speak. If her husband knew what I know about her, she would be alone right now, but I will never tell, as time will take care of everything, so I let her go too.
She has been an online friend for seven years, have talked to her several times on the phone, and for a while we were in-separable online, but I changed. Even my ex (Jer) says she does not know me any more. I also live with her…lol…but we are just friends. She still has a lot of negativity in her life, but I am working on that.
I am getting to the point where I am at peace with myself. I love who I am.
Last year we had a garage sale, and it really was not going too well.About a block away there is a home that houses people that some are somewhat retarded, and others that just need to be taken care of, and it is sad, but some are just there because their grown up kids don’t want to deal with them. Anyway we had lots of clothes for men and women, and purses and watches and many other things and (Jer) walked over there and told the people that were in charge that the residents there could come over and anything they wanted, and they did, in groups of five or six at a time, they all come over and took whatever they wanted. The smiles and gratitude that was on their faces was worth it.
Sometime yet this summer, we are going to do the same thing, gather up all the things that we will never use again and just give it away. It’s a great feeling to have when you can see the gratitude in their faces.
There is nothing wrong in how you can feel energized one minute and down in the dumps the next, we all get this way, whether others will admit it or not, I for one will.
I enjoy reading what you write and no doubt will be back.
Tc, and you have a great day…and thank you…
Comment by Mark Wilson — June 23, 2009 @ 12:01 pm